One of America's most talented bakers, Nick Malgieri presents an unparalleled collection of everyone's favorite treat: cookies. With more than four hundred recipes from around the world, Cookies Unlimited is one book that truly lives up to its name, offering delectable cookies both familiar and unusual, American and foreign, easy and elaborate. Malgieri's bar cookies, drop cookies, refrigerator cookies, piped cookies, biscotti , fried cookies, and sandwich cookies are just some of the many temptations in this comprehensive treasury.

More than a recipe book, Cookies Unlimited is an indispensable teaching tool, guiding the home baker through every step in the cookiemaking process. Malgieri clearly and carefully describes fundamental techniques as well as advanced baking skills; from whipping up simple chocolate chip refrigerator cookies to piping perfect meringues to building a stunning gingerbread house, every technique is explained. Each chapter includes both easy cookies and elaborate ones, ensuring that bakers of all experience levels will find Cookies Unlimited useful and accessible. Malgieri's recipes are flawless, his stories and tips are enlightening, and the results are spectacular.

Beautifully illustrated with four-color photographs and instructional line drawings, Cookies Unlimited is an inspiring resource for every baker and cookie lover. Whether you are baking for the holidays, filling the family cookie jar, or even trying your hand at making cookies for the first time, this is the only book you'll ever need. There are few things in life better than home-baked cookies, so indulge and enjoy!

Product Description

From Amazon

All traces of willpower dissipate somewhere between the rich, moist, and chewy Cheese Cake Brownies; the delicate, crispy Palm Beach Lemon Cookies; and the flaky, tender Portland Fig Cookies, bursting with an unbelievably decadent filling of dried figs, currants, walnuts, and spices. Trust Nick Malgieri, award-winning author, James Beard nominee, and director of the baking program at Peter Kump's Cooking School in New York, to gather a collection of more than 350 cookie recipes that we can't live without.

Each mouthwatering recipe begins with a short introduction. Sometimes Malgieri tells us what the cookies will look and taste like, sometimes he tells us a bit about their origins, and sometimes we meet the people who first shared the recipes with him. In each case he is sure to pique interest. If Malgieri says that nothing is homier or more comforting than his old-fashioned moist Currant Squares, how can we not make them on the next cold, rainy Saturday that comes along? And if he says he helped Pierre Hermes (the famous Parisian pastry chef) make his extremely delicate Orange Tuiles, and that it wasn't difficult, that should be enough impetus for us to make them just to impress our friends.

Malgieri has divided the book into chapters by type of cookie (bar, drop, refrigerator, rolled, molded, piped, filled, etc.), just what we'd expect from a great teacher like him. The chapters begin with hints and tips for the kind of cookie and recipes follow. If we had lots of time, and plenty of hungry friends, we could work our way through the book and arrive triumphant, at the end, master cookie makers, but we're probably more likely to skip around a lot--everything sounds so tempting! From "heavenly" Caramel Pecan Cookies and "elegant" French Vanilla Sables to "delicately flavored" Little Italy Pine Nut Macaroons and "nutty, fragrant" Almond and Hazelnut Biscotti, Malgieri's enthusiasm for his subject is contagious.

Most of the recipes fit on one page, a detail anyone can appreciate because there's no need to mess the book with sticky, buttery fingers. The instructions are detailed when they need to be, such as the exact Ateco plain tube number to use for the piped Butter Almond Fingers, and are beautifully clear and simple when that's all that's necessary, such as with the quick, easy Golden Coconut Macaroons. Even if you think that the last thing you need is another cookie cookbook, think again, because this one is simply chock-full of recipes you'll make, and make again. --Leora Y. Bloom

From Library Journal

Cooking teacher Malgieri (Chocolate, How To Bake, etc.) offers more than 200 recipes for cookies of all sorts, from homey favorites like Cheesecake Brownies to more unusual sweet treats such as Ricotta Drops and Swiss Hazelnut Bars. Some are as American as Loaded with Chips Chocolate Chip Cookies; others are lesser-known European specialties, with a good number from Italy, reflecting Malgieri's heritage. Most are easy, as cookies should be, and the recipes are clearly written. A good companion to Holly Garrison's excellent Cookie Book (Macmillan, 1996), this is recommended for most baking collections. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Most helpful customer reviews

I took a cooking class that he gave in my area. I was really exicted to meet him. I was looking forward to baking the cookies in his book and then reporting to you all how some of them turned out. When it came time to buy books, I readily bought one so that he could sign it. When it came time for him to sign my book, he signed it as he was looking away talking to somebody else. He never said a word to me or thanked me for buying his expensive book. Not only was that rude, but I was extremely hurt. You know how some cookbook authors you really want to meet? Well, I wish I had never wasted my time at the class or wasted my money on the book. I have never been able to bake any of the cookies he has in the book because I was so hurt. I will throw it away someday if I ever find it. I conveniently lost it. I have more than 600 cookbooks, love to cook, but never with his books ever again. If he comes to your town, don't waste your time. Go see somebody nice that will appreciate that you are spending your hard-earned money to buy their book and taking your time away from other things you could be doing to see them. Also, during the class he complained about Martha Stewart when he was on her show how mean she was to her employees. What a tattletale. That's the thanks she gets for having him on her show. Hope he never gets his own show. I wouldn't waste my time. Save your money.

I've tried several of the recipes in this book, and most of them were very successful. A couple of the recipes were too sweet for my family's taste, but I made the chocolate chip cookies for my husband's office around the holidays, and two people said they were, hands down, the best chocolate chip cookies they'd ever had.The book is divided into cookie category sections (e.g., refrigerator, drop, bars, etc.) and there are many, many recipes with interesting backgrounds on all of them. There's also a great reference section in the back for ordering specialty items, cookie presses, and other things you might not find locally (although most of the recipes can be made with everyday ingredients & equipment).Overall, I think this is a wonderful cookbook and it's by far the best cookie book I've ever used. I turn to it again and again not only when I'm planning on making cookies, but when I just want to read about them and drool over the pictures, too.

Don't take Nick Malgieri and his bad behavior personally. He is a miserable human being and everybody in the industry knows this about him. You were not the first and certainly not the last to be dissed by him. However, being a former professional student of his, I can tell you that he really knows his stuff and his recipes are great. I graduated his cooking school with high honors, yet he made me and my classmates feel like complete imbeciles during the time he personally instructed us. Ironically that was the "cookie" part of our petit four training.So take heart in the fact that you are not alone and actually among the numbers of many professionals who suffered the same experienced. His recipes are great - so get back at him by using them! And if we all send him a little prayer every time we do, perhaps he will become a little kinder, which i'm sure will drive him crazy!

This cookie book provides a great way for even the mediocre baker to get outstanding results and impress friends. It has beautiful, large, detailed photos which show how the results are supposed to look. Clear, precise instructions assist the baker along the way. Hints are included which help ensure even greater baking success. (I like the idea of lining pans with foil. It helps prevent cookie breakage and makes clean-up time so much easier).The recipes are fabulous. After just making a few of them, I've decided to bake my way through the entire book. Fortunately, I have enough receptive snackers in my family to make this an eventual possibility!I'd suggest that even if you don't want to get this book for yourself, present it as a surprise to someone who likes to bake. I guarantee that it will be appreciated for many years to come.

Nick Malgieri is just fabulous. He has been at the pastry business so long, and he's been teaching for so long, that he knows just what to tell us, and simply, so that we make a superb cookie every time.He also has great taste. The selection of cookies ranges from down-home and familiar to slightly exotic. None of these recipes is very difficult, but there is a little bit of variation in skill level required throughout the book. This will satisfy a craving to try something new and that will stretch your pastry skills. But there are plenty of quick cookies, too, for when you need a cookie NOW.Try these wonderful cookies: golden coconut macaroons, Syrian & Lebanese date-filled cookies, cheesecake brownies, Venetian carnival fritters and chocolate chocolate sandwich cookies.The full-color photographs are beautiful, too!

This is a fantastic assortment of Cookie recipes all in one place. I've tired the "Supernatural Brownies", Blondies, Gingerbread People, "W" piped cookies, Cinnamon piped cookies and Cream Cookie(Rolled) ALL with GREAT results! This is a true cookie resource as the assortment of cookies covered is amazing... fried, molded, rolled, bar, dropped, shaped, piped and filled.The ingredient list and instructions are clear and precise. The paper/binding of this book is high quality.There are beautiful color photos that show you most of the mouthwatering cookies too.If you're looking for the ultimate cookbook on cookies, you've found it.